


Stranger

by sinistrocular



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: scopophobia tw, suicide TW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 17:04:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinistrocular/pseuds/sinistrocular
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian saw him everywhere, in his peripheral vision before he turned, in the stretched silhouettes of the sunset, in stranger and friend alike. Most of all, Joseph’s ghost seemed to linger at the subway platform, in the teenager perched too close to the edge, in the loner casting glances toward the tracks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stranger

[(mood music)](http://youtu.be/8ArlscD4MOQ)

\--

Sebastian glared at his own missing persons poster, at the scowl that looked back out at him, before he tore it down. The cork underneath was riddled with holes, with the remains of a hundred hushed conversations about conserving police resources, with a thousand broken sobs that still echoed through the precinct’s corridors. His fingers traced the constellations of suffering until he brushed against the rumpled edges of the nearest poster. Joseph Oda stared out from the sun-bleached page, his features obscured by days, if not weeks, of struggling against impossible odds. Sebastian wondered if his memories of his partner would blanch and disappear like the ink (and part of him hoped they would).

For Sebastian saw him everywhere, in his peripheral vision before he turned, in the stretched silhouettes of the sunset, in stranger and friend alike. Most of all, Joseph’s ghost seemed to linger at the subway platform, in the teenager perched too close to the edge, in the loner casting glances toward the tracks. Long ago, Sebastian decided if he could save just one person, he would, for Joseph. A strong hand on the shoulder and a request to come with him— _I’m a detective, I can help_ — had now decorated his desk with three cards, each filled with such gratitude so sincere Sebastian could hardly stand them. On a bad day, he plucked them from his desk, but as he yanked open the deepest, darkest drawer he could find, Joseph Oda watched him from that damn poster.

Two days later, he found himself on the receiving end of one of those hushed conversations, of whispered words of regret, of ‘We’re sorry for your loss.’ Sebastian added his voice to those that screamed in denial, that insisted just one more day, just one more lead, just one more tip.

The poster laid on his desk and Sebastian didn’t realize he buried it under file after file until a cold afternoon in January when the lightbulb in his desk lamp finally burned out after shining constantly for months on end. In frustration, Sebastian knocked his inbox from his desk, scattering nameless faces across the floor. He screwed in the new bulb and told himself to _just breathe_ before collecting the bread crumbs from the tile. When he picked up the last file, there Joseph was, looking up at him, but not as he ever did in life. Coffee rings and cigarette smoke warped his features, edged kind eyes with malice, and the sun had made sure to wash his face of color long ago.

Joseph looked like Ruvik.

Sebastian tore through his desk, searching for the business card from Kidman’s first day on the force, when he asked her to write her home phone on the back of _Sebastian Castellanos, Lead Detective._ She was likely a thousand miles away, separated by canceled phone number after canceled number, but Sebastian’s hope burned brighter than ever. Or, perhaps, he finally recognized he had nothing left to lose to the abyss of time. The edge of the card cut his finger, but he found it nonetheless and jabbed the ten numbers into his abused receiver.

“Kidman.” That familiar voice that belonged to an outright stranger greeted him, but Sebastian had never heard anything so sweet since the fire.

“Joseph,” Sebastian said, the name clumsy on his tongue. “He’s in Joseph.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just a very quick (and very short) one-shot in between things I'm working on for other fandoms.


End file.
